The Green Building Matters Podcast with Charlie Cichetti

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Aug 2026

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Do green buildings matter to you? This podcast fuels your fire with inspiring interviews from industry and nonprofit leaders across the built environment. Not sure if green building matters? Listen to the personal stories of our guests and let Charlie's passion help convince you why green buildings are essential to our shared future. Each episode illustrates a unique journey through sustainability and towards resilience. Charlie explores the challenges and celebrations of the movers and shakers in the green building industry. Hear behind the scene stories from the inner world of green and healthy building design, construction, and management.

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September 9, 2026Episode 44936 min

Building for the Next 100 Years with Timber, Wood Fiber, Already Embedded Carbon with Jonathan Orpin

✅ The Green Impact Report Quick take: What if the greenest building innovation isn't waiting around the corner — it's already here? New Energy Works founder Jonathan Orpin makes the case for building better now, using durable timber structures, wood-fiber insulation, off-site construction, and mass timber to tackle carbon without sacrificing craft or economics. 👨‍🎓 Meet Your Fellow Sustainability Champion Jonathan Orpin is the founder of New Energy Works, a timber framing and sustainable construction company celebrating 40 years in business. Jonathan's environmental roots stretch back to college, when he became deeply interested in environmentalism. New Energy Works initially explored cellulose insulation and solar energy before pivoting toward timber framing in the mid-1980s. Four decades later, the company works across residential timber framing, off-site panelization, glulam, and mass timber construction. New Energy Works is also 100% employee owned through an ESOP and operates around a triple-bottom-line philosophy of People, Planet, and Profit. Now, Jonathan is preparing for another kind of sustainable design challenge: building a leadership transition that allows the company and its values to thrive beyond its founder. 🌱Breaking Ground on Better Building In this episode, Jonathan challenges Green Building professionals to stop waiting for the next breakthrough and start scaling solutions we already know work: 🧠 Key Insight #1: Build the enclosure like a blanket — and attack thermal bridging from the outside. The Challenge: Conventional assemblies can introduce thermal bridges through studs and other structural components, while some insulation products carry significant global warming impacts of their own. The Solution: New Energy Works wraps its timber structures with exterior insulation and has increasingly shifted toward wood-fiber insulation. The company uses dense-packed wood fiber in cavities and rigid wood fiber outside the structure to break thermal bridges. Jonathan points to domestically manufactured wood-fiber insulation made from lower-grade trees as an especially exciting evolution. ROI: Better thermal performance can reduce operational energy demand, while wood fiber provides a lower-carbon insulation strategy. Off-site panelization also helps move work into a controlled shop environment, reducing field labor and accelerating installation. 🚀 Key Insight #2: Stop treating mass timber as "next." It's ready now. The Challenge: Concrete and steel remain foundational materials for commercial construction, but Jonathan argues their carbon impacts create an opportunity for lower-carbon structural alternatives. The Solution: New Energy Works is expanding its glulam and mass timber work on commercial projects, bringing wood into structures that might otherwise have relied more heavily on concrete and steel. ROI: Mass timber gives project teams another lever for addressing embodied carbon while creating highly crafted buildings. For Jonathan, the bigger opportunity is implementation: Green Building professionals already know enough to make better material decisions today. 🫶 Key Insight #3: Sustainability includes building companies—and buildings—that can outlast their founders. The Challenge: A durable building means little if the knowledge, culture, and values behind it disappear. Jonathan sees the same longevity challenge in business ownership as he does in construction. The Solution: New Energy Works became 100% employee owned through an ESOP as part of a long-term succession strategy. Jonathan is now preparing to transition from CEO to executive chair while searching for a leader who will preserve the company's commitment to community, craft, and People, Planet, and Profit. His advice to that future CEO is simple: listen, learn, then lead. ROI: Employee ownership creates a pathway for workers to participate in the value they help create while giving the company a succession mechanism designed to preserve its culture and mission. For founders, succession planning can turn decades of work into an organization capable of continuing beyond them. 🎧 Sustainable Soundbite "My suggestion to the new CEO is, listen, learn and then lead." — Jonathan Orpin 🧗 Your Green Building Action Plan Transform your next project with these steps: This Week: Review one current wall or roof assembly for thermal bridges and investigate whether wood-fiber insulation or continuous exterior insulation could improve the enclosure. This Quarter: Identify where your project could reduce reliance on higher-carbon structural materials and evaluate timber, glulam, mass timber, and FSC-certified wood where appropriate. This Year: Start measuring instead of assuming. Establish a repeatable process for tracking the carbon impacts of your materials and projects so your sustainability claims can increasingly be backed by data. 🔗 Connect & Learn More 🌿 Access full episode resources: https://www.gbes.com/podcast 📄 Read the transcript: here 🔗 Connect with Jonathan Orpin: 🌲 Website: https://newenergyworks.com/, https://pioneermillworks.com/ 🌍 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathan-orpin-1017868/ 💚 Join the Green Building Movement: https://www.greenbuilding.news/subscribe 📚 Want More Green Building Insights? Get sustainability tips 2x a week. Subscribe to our FREE newsletter here: https://www.greenbuilding.news/subscribe 💡 Today's Episode Sponsored By: Building Plaques Building Plaques creates custom LEED recognition plaques that tell the story of your project's sustainability achievement, made from architectural-grade anodized aluminum so they last as long as the building itself. Their online plaque designer lets you build a fully customized plaque in under 10 minutes. Just enter your LEED project number and you're off. 🔍 Learn more: https://buildingplaques.com Green Building Matters, Inc © 2026 | Good Green Fun.

September 2, 2026Episode 44858 min

The Father of Green Building Returns: David Gottfried on Regen360 and the Operating System for a Regenerative Earth

✅ The Green Impact Report Quick take: David Gottfried co-founded USGBC, wrote the first white paper proposing a US rating system, and lit the fuse on what became LEED. Now, 30+ years and 30 billion square feet later, he's back with a bigger question: if we can green every building on Earth and still miss the climate targets, what have we forgotten? 👨‍🎓 Meet Your Fellow Sustainability Champion David Gottfried is the Founder & CEO of Regen360, where he serves as a strategic advisor to leading organizations across manufacturing, software, and Green Building. He spent the two decades before that running Regenerative Ventures and its RegenNetwork, advising hundreds of organizations on sustainable building strategy. He began his career as a real estate developer and contractor. Gottfried hosts the Regen360 Podcast (80+ episodes) and wrote the bestselling Explosion Green, winner of the Independent Book Awards Grand Prize. His next book, Regen360: An Operating System for a Regenerative Earth, publishes October 2026. Preorder here. His prior residence was a LEED Platinum home recognized as the highest-rated in the world. He holds a degree in Engineering and Resource Management from Stanford, where he lectures regularly. His honors include WorldGBC's Global Green Building Entrepreneurship Award, USGBC's Leadership Award, the Net Zero Trailblazer Award, and the USGBC Northern California Chapter "Super Hero" Award (now presented in his name). He's a Green Industry Hall of Fame inductee and a Purpose Economy 100 honoree. Outside of the office: he's a father, painter (see his work here), martial artist, fly fisherman, and cyclist, a five-time finisher of the Death Ride. He lives in the East Bay Area of Northern California. But here's what sets this episode apart: David's business card reads "Father of the Green Building Movement," and the title is earned. He co-founded USGBC in 1993 with Mike Italiano and Rick Fedrizzi, having already drafted the first Green Building Standard under his ASTM subcommittee in 1990–91 (the categories that became LEED). He was USGBC's first CEO, funded its early losses himself, and founded a second nonprofit, World Green Building Council, in 2002. Today LEED certification exists in 181 countries and WorldGBC counts 85 Green Building Councils worldwide. If you've built a career around LEED, this is the man who built the room you're standing in. 🌱 Breaking Ground on Better Building In this episode, David traces the arc from founding a movement to redesigning the operating system underneath it: 🧲 Key Insight #1: You can't scale what you haven't standardized. **The Challenge:**In 1990, "Green Building" wasn't a category: no shared definition, no rating system, and no way for developers to prove sustainable buildings were worth more. **The Solution:**David's ASTM subcommittee drafted the first Green Building Standard in 1990–91. In 1993 he co-founded USGBC with Mike Italiano and Rick Fedrizzi, and USGBC's committee (chaired by Rob Watson and funded with about $800K from the Department of Energy) built the pilot program that became LEED, certifying its first ten projects in 2000. **ROI:**That standard became the foundation for a rating system now used in 181 countries, unlocking an industry David estimates at nearly a trillion dollars globally. 🧲 Key Insight #2: Green Buildings aren't enough if the "ship" underneath them is still sinking. **The Challenge:**Even with LEED's global success, the world is still missing its Paris Agreement targets, warming has already reached roughly 1.5°C, and a billion people still lack potable water or electricity. Decarbonizing buildings alone won't fix civilization's operating system. **The Solution:**David's new book, Regen360, introduces "Earth Codes": 15 principles distilled from over 2,600 pages of dialogue with an AI assistant he calls Zenobia, synthesized into equations for what he calls HOPE: Health On Planet Earth. **ROI:**A framework that pushes sustainability practitioners past compliance checklists and toward systems-level thinking, the shift he calls moving from "human" to "humane." 🧲 Key Insight #3: AI can accelerate burnout culture or accelerate regeneration. The difference is how you use it. **The Challenge:**AI is reshaping every industry, including Green Building's own carbon and energy footprint, and it's just as capable of deepening bad habits as breaking them. **The Solution:**David built a nine-step framework for "AI for good": using AI as a check on decision-making (surfacing a product's full lifecycle assessment or environmental product declaration before you buy) and even as a nervous-system regulator that prompts reflection instead of reaction. **ROI:**Professionals who learn to pair AI fluency with the discipline of asking "what have we forgotten?" position themselves (and their projects) for the next phase of the movement, not just the last one. 🎧 Sustainable Soundbite Options "What we did at the USGBC is build the base camp so us mountain climbers can go up the mountain, and not solo without gear. We climb together." — David Gottfried "Are we putting solar panels on the Titanic? It isn't the ship. It's what the ship's floating on. It's the underlying operating system of civilization." — David Gottfried 🚵‍♀️ Your Green Building Action Plan Transform your next project (and your career) with these steps: **This Week:**Try David's AI-as-check move on one real decision: before your next product spec, ask your AI assistant for the EPD or full lifecycle assessment and see what turns up. **This Quarter:**Start asking David Brower's question on your own projects: "What have we forgotten?" Use it to audit a current project for gaps beyond the checklist: health, equity, lifecycle impact. **This Year:**Preorder Regen360 and explore how the "Earth Codes" framework could inform your firm's approach to decarbonization, resiliency, and regenerative design beyond LEED compliance. 🔗 Connect & Learn More 🌿 Access full episode resources: https://www.gbes.com/podcast 🗒 Read the transcript: here 🔗 Connect with David Gottfried: Website:https://regen360.net/ LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-gottfried-75835a2/ 📚 Preorder Regen360: An Operating System for a Regenerative Earth: Amazon 💚 Join the Green Building Movement: https://www.greenbuilding.news/subscribe 💌 Want More Green Building Insights? Get sustainability tips delivered twice each week. 👉 Subscribe FREE: https://www.greenbuilding.news/subscribe 🧠 Today's Episode Sponsored By: Building Plaques Building Plaques creates custom LEED recognition plaques that tell the story of your project's sustainability achievement, made from architectural-grade anodized aluminum so they last as long as the building itself. Their online plaque designer lets you build a fully customized plaque in under 10 minutes. Just enter your LEED project number and you're off. 🔍 Learn more: https://buildingplaques.com Green Building Matters, Inc © 2026 | Good Green Fun.

August 26, 2026Episode 44750 min

Special Episode: Skema.ai's Origin Story with Co-Founders Marty Rozmanith + Charlie Cichetti

💚 The Green Impact Report Quick take: Marty Rozmanith spent seven years writing the requirements for Revit — the tool that runs $1.2B a year in the AEC industry — and now he's building what comes after it. His pitch: pair AI with discrete engineering solvers so every design choice is explainable, not just fast, and use that to strip the padding owners quietly add to every project "just in case." 🤝 Meet Your Fellow Sustainability Champion Charlie Cichetti Co-Founder & CEO of Skema.ai, serial entrepreneur, LEED Fellow, and longtime sustainability advocate. Charlie has spent his career helping building owners operate smarter, greener, and more efficiently. Today, he's focused on building a tech startup using AI to dramatically reduce waste, inefficiency, and rework across the building lifecycle. Marty Rozmanith Co-Founder & CTO of Skema.ai. He started his career as a carpenter on a framing crew before earning an engineering degree and working in architecture and structural engineering. He later joined Autodesk and was recruited onto the original Revit team, where he ran the Revit product requirements group for its first seven years - shaping features still core to the product today. After Revit, he worked at Dassault Systèmes, the French engineering-software giant behind the design tools used across multiple industries, before co-founding Skema.ai in 2022 with Charlie Cichetti (and others) to bring that same rigor to buildings. 🌱 Breaking Ground on Better Building In this episode, Marty Rozmanith revolutionizes traditional construction approaches: ✍️ Key Insight #1: Pairing AI with discrete solvers so every design decision has a documented reason. The Challenge: AI alone is a black box — ask it the same design question ten times and it can produce ten different answers, which is a non-starter when a licensed engineer has to sign off and explain a decision. The Solution: Skema.ai combines traditional discrete-math solvers (which handle the hard engineering constraints — cooling, power, layout) with AI that learns to navigate hundreds of interdependent variables and explain why it made each trade-off. ROI: Owners get repeatable, defensible design output — like a data center configuration that names the exact constraint behind every chiller count — without sacrificing the speed AI promises. 🧠 Key Insight #2: "Morphing" — reusing what architects already built instead of starting from a blank page. The Challenge: Most cloud design tools ask architects to rebuild their entire library of assemblies and details from scratch, and early feasibility software forced designers to work only from a rigid pre-built "parts bucket," which architects hated and refused to adopt. The Solution: Skema.ai lets firms take an assembly from a past project and adapt it to a new site and shape, instead of redrawing it — giving designers flexibility while still capturing reusable data. ROI: Faster time from concept to a permit-ready model, plus firms build a growing library of their own best practices instead of losing that knowledge project to project. ✍️ Key Insight #3: Selling directly to owners to eliminate the hidden "CYA tax." The Challenge: Every stakeholder in a project — architect, engineer, contractor — tends to pad their estimate "just in case," a habit Rozmanith and Cichetti call the CYA tax, which typically adds 10–25% to project cost. The Solution: Skema.ai gives owners an in-house tool that non-technical team members can use to produce a highly technical, 75%+ complete design before the architect of record is even brought in — and gives every party access to the same live data at once, removing the excuse to pad. ROI: For portfolio owners like quick-service restaurants and data center operators, even modest per-project savings compound fast — the team points to one retail customer where five extra store openings in a year could move $60M+ in revenue forward. 🎧 Sustainable Soundbite Options "I realized that I can either keep designing buildings, or I can create the tools that everybody else uses to design buildings." — Marty Rozmanith 🫶 Your Green Building Action Plan Transform your next project with these steps: This Week: Pull your last three project budgets and estimate the "CYA tax" — the contingency padding added by each party just in case. You can't cut what you haven't measured. This Quarter: Pilot an AI-assisted workflow on one repeatable project type (a prototype store, a standard floor plate) where the tool has to explain why it made each trade-off — not just produce an answer. This Year: Build an integration strategy, not a replacement strategy. Look for tools that plug into what your team already uses (Revit, SketchUp, Rhino) so adoption doesn't carry a switching-cost tax of its own. 🧲 Connect & Learn More 🌿 Access full episode resources: https://www.gbes.com/podcast 🗒 Read the transcript: here 🔗 Connect with Marty Rozmanith: LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/martyrozmanith Website: skema.ai YouTube: youtube.com 💚 Join the Green Building Movement: https://www.greenbuilding.news/subscribe 💌 Want More Green Building Insights? Get sustainability tips delivered twice each week. 👉 Subscribe FREE: https://www.greenbuilding.news/subscribe 🧠 Today's Episode Sponsored By: Building Plaques Building Plaques creates custom LEED recognition plaques that tell the story of your project's sustainability achievement, made from architectural-grade anodized aluminum so they last as long as the building itself. Their online plaque designer lets you build a fully customized plaque in under 10 minutes — just enter your LEED project number and you're off. 🔍 Learn more: https://buildingplaques.com Green Building Matters, Inc © 2026 | Good Green Fun.

August 19, 2026Episode 44638 min

Beyond Carbon: Why the Future of Sustainable Materials Requires a Holistic Approach with Annie Bevan

🎯 The Green Impact Report Quick take: Sustainable buildings aren't just about reducing carbon anymore. In this episode, Annie Bevan explains why the next generation of Green Building Leaders must evaluate materials through multiple lenses — including climate, human health, social equity, biodiversity, and circularity — to make smarter, business-driven decisions that accelerate industry-wide impact. 🎓 Meet Your Fellow Sustainability Champion Annie Bevan is the Founder and CEO of the Sustainability Management and Strategy Collaborative (SMSC), where she helps industries accelerate sustainability through collaboration, strategy, and third-party verification. Having spent more than a decade advancing sustainable building products, certification systems, and industry collaboration, Annie has helped shape initiatives including Mindful Materials while working to simplify how manufacturers, architects, and owners evaluate product sustainability at scale. 🌱 Breaking Ground on Better Building 🚀 Key Insight #1: Sustainable products require more than a carbon score. The Challenge: For years, the industry has evaluated products through individual metrics — first human health, then embodied carbon — without considering their broader environmental and social impacts. The Solution: Annie explains why the industry is moving toward evaluating products across multiple impact categories simultaneously, including:Climate health, Human health, Social equity, Circularity, Biodiversity. The Common Materials Framework helps manufacturers and designers compare products holistically instead of making decisions based on one attribute alone. ROI: Better material decisions, Reduced unintended consequences, Smarter specifications, More resilient buildings, Lower long-term environmental risk. 🚀 Key Insight #2: Sustainability only scales when it makes business sense. The Challenge: Manufacturers invested heavily in EPDs and HPDs because customers requested them — but many struggled to prove those investments actually influenced purchasing decisions. The Solution: Rather than asking manufacturers for endless spreadsheets, Annie helped drive the industry toward shared standards and common language through the Mindful Materials movement. By simplifying sustainability reporting, organizations can spend less time completing questionnaires and more time improving products. ROI: Reduced reporting burden, Increased specification confidence, Better manufacturer engagement, Faster adoption of sustainable products, Stronger return on sustainability investments. 🚀 Key Insight #3: AI will transform sustainability — but only if the data is ready. The Challenge: The green building industry still relies heavily on spreadsheets and inconsistent data structures. Without standardized information, AI cannot provide meaningful recommendations. The Solution: Annie believes the next evolution isn't simply artificial intelligence — it's building the infrastructure that allows verified sustainability data to move automatically between manufacturers, architects, designers, and decision-making platforms. ROI: Faster product selection, Better project reporting, Reduced administrative work, Improved investment decisions, Scalable sustainability across the built environment. 💬 Sustainable Soundbite "There is a role for everyone who wants to make a difference in sustainability." — Annie Bevan ✅ Your Green Building Action Plan Transform your next sustainability initiative with these practical steps: This Week: Review one product specification using more than just embodied carbon. Consider human health, circularity, and social impacts as well. This Quarter: Explore frameworks such as Mindful Materials and Declare to better understand holistic product transparency. This Year: Develop a material selection process that aligns sustainability goals with measurable business value, helping your organization reduce risk while improving project outcomes. 🔗 Connect & Learn More 🌿 Access full episode resources: https://www.gbes.com/podcast 📄 Read the transcript: here 💼 Connect with Annie Bevan: linkedin.com/in/annie-bevan-78402b31 🌐 Company Website: smscollaborative.com 🌎 Verico: https://www.verico-audit.com/ 💚 Join the Green Building Movement: https://www.greenbuilding.news/subscribe 💌 Want More Green Building Insights? Get sustainability tips delivered twice each week. 👉 Subscribe FREE: https://www.greenbuilding.news/subscribe 🧠 Today's Episode Sponsored By: Building Plaques Building Plaques creates custom LEED recognition plaques that tell the story of your project's sustainability achievement, made from architectural-grade anodized aluminum so they last as long as the building itself. Their online plaque designer lets you build a fully customized plaque in under 10 minutes — just enter your LEED project number and you're off. 🔍 Learn more: https://buildingplaques.com Green Building Matters, Inc © 2026 | Good Green Fun.

August 12, 2026Episode 4451 hr 14 min

Building Communities That Last: Human Flourishing, Waste Audits, & the Future of Sustainability with Brian Bollinger

🎯 The Green Impact Report Quick take: Sustainability isn't just about reducing carbon or earning certifications — it's about creating places where people can thrive. In this episode, Brian Bollinger shares how green building, technology, AI, waste reduction, and thoughtful community design all work together to create healthier buildings, stronger businesses, and more resilient communities. 🎓 Meet Your Fellow Sustainability Champion Brian Bollinger is a sustainability strategist, entrepreneur, and connector passionate about helping organizations build healthier, more efficient, and more resilient communities. His career spans refugee resettlement, nonprofit leadership, energy management, zero waste consulting, AI innovation, and sustainable building strategy. Today, Brian works across multiple ventures advancing green buildings, waste reduction, AI-powered technology, and environmental stewardship while helping organizations turn sustainability into measurable business value. 🌱 Breaking Ground on Better Building 🧐 Key Insight #1: Sustainable buildings create healthier communities — not just lower utility bills. The Challenge: Many organizations still see sustainability as an added expense instead of a long-term investment. The Solution: Brian shares how designing a Net Zero community center for Friends of Refugees transformed the conversation. Better ventilation, improved daylight, smarter mechanical systems, stormwater reuse, and healthier materials weren't simply environmental upgrades — they directly improved people's lives. ROI: Lower operating costs, Healthier indoor environments, Fewer sick days, Better long-term stewardship, Buildings designed to serve communities for generations instead of decades. ✍️ Key Insight #2: Waste isn't just trash — it's hidden business intelligence. The Challenge: Most organizations never truly understand what they're throwing away — or how much money they're losing. The Solution: Through Waste to Zero, Brian helps organizations perform detailed waste audits that identify contamination, purchasing habits, recycling opportunities, and operational inefficiencies. He explains that the biggest improvements often come from surprisingly simple changes: Better signage, Smarter purchasing decisions, Employee engagement, Friendly competition between departments. ROI: Lower hauling costs, Higher recycling rates, Reduced contamination, Better purchasing decisions, Significant operational savings ☝️ Key Insight #3: AI will become the new electricity for business. The Challenge: Many organizations are unsure where AI fits into their daily work. The Solution: Brian encourages professionals to stop viewing AI as a futuristic technology and instead treat it like a practical productivity tool. Whether it's analyzing waste streams, modernizing legacy software, organizing meetings, or improving workflows, AI allows people to spend less time on repetitive work and more time solving meaningful problems. ROI: Faster decision-making, Better data analysis, Increased productivity, Improved customer experiences, More time focused on high-value work. 💬 Sustainable Soundbite Sustainability isn't just about reducing carbon — it's about creating places where people can thrive, businesses can flourish, and communities can become healthier for generations. — Brian Bollinger ✅ Your Green Building Action Plan Transform your next project with these practical steps: This Week: Take a closer look at one area of your building operations — whether it's waste, energy use, or occupant wellness — and identify one simple improvement that can make an immediate impact. This Quarter: Conduct a waste audit or facility assessment to uncover hidden inefficiencies. Review purchasing decisions, improve recycling signage, and engage your team in creating better sustainability habits. This Year: Develop a long-term strategy that integrates sustainability, technology, and human well-being. Build systems that don't just reduce environmental impact — but create healthier, more resilient communities for years to come. 🔗 Connect & Learn More 🌿 Access full episode resources: https://www.gbes.com/podcast 📄 Read the transcript: here 👩🏻‍💻 Connect with Brian Bollinger: linkedin.com/in/brian-w-bollinger 💚 Join the Green Building Movement: https://www.greenbuilding.news/subscribe 🧠 Today's Episode Sponsored By Building Plaques Building Plaques creates custom LEED recognition plaques that tell the story of your project's sustainability achievement, crafted from architectural-grade anodized aluminum to last as long as the building itself. Their intuitive online plaque designer lets you create a fully customized plaque in under 10 minutes — simply enter your LEED project number and personalize your design. Whether you're recognizing a newly certified project or celebrating your team's accomplishment, Building Plaques helps showcase the story behind your building's sustainability journey. 🔍 Learn more: https://buildingplaques.com Green Building Matters, Inc © 2026 | Good Green Fun.

August 5, 2026Episode 44435 min

Carbon Neutral Concrete Starts with Collaboration: Education, Innovation & Building a More Resilient Future with Kerry Sutton

✅ The Green Impact Report Quick Take: Concrete is responsible for building nearly every community on earth—and it's also one of the biggest opportunities to reduce embodied carbon. In this episode, Kerry Sutton explains why the future isn't about finding one miracle material. It's about educating the entire industry, embracing innovation responsibly, and collaborating across every stakeholder to create resilient, lower-carbon infrastructure that lasts for generations. 🎓 Meet Your Fellow Sustainability Champion Kerry Sutton, PE, LEED AP is the Executive Director of NEU: An ACI Center of Excellence for Carbon Neutral Concrete. In this role, Ms. Sutton leads NEU's mission to foster global collaboration, accelerating the adoption and use of reduced-carbon concrete technologies. Ms. Sutton brings over 30 years of extensive experience in the concrete sector, with a strong background in pavement design, construction, and materials. Her appointment signals a reinforced commitment by NEU to advance sustainable practices through technical expertise and industry-wide collaboration. She also serves as the Director, Industry Relations for the American Concrete Institute (ACI). Throughout her career, Ms. Sutton has been instrumental in advancing the acceptance and adoption of ACI codes and standards. She has been an active participant in the model code and standards development processes with leading organizations, including the International Code Council (ICC), ASTM, the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), and the AASHTO Committee on Materials and Pavements (COMP). Ms. Sutton also currently serves as a Technical Consultant for the Slag Cement Association (SCA), advising on standards development. Her recent work includes participation in the Consensus Body for the Green Building Initiative (GBI), reflecting her dedication to sustainability. Prior to her work with ACI, Ms. Sutton served as the Director of Engineering for the Michigan Concrete Association and held roles as a Technical Service Engineer and Corporate Environmental Engineer with Holcim, Inc. She is a registered professional engineer in the State of Michigan. She holds a BS in Environmental Engineering from Michigan Technological University and an MS in Civil Engineering from Wayne State University. Her technical proficiency and leadership are expected to accelerate NEU's impact on the industry's path to carbon neutrality. About NEU: An ACI Center of Excellence for Carbon Neutral Concrete NEU: An ACI Center of Excellence for Carbon Neutral Concrete was established in 2022 by the American Concrete Institute. The Center, based at ACI World Headquarters in Farmington Hills, 🌱 Breaking Ground on Better Building 🧠 Key Insight #1: Carbon-neutral concrete isn't one product — it's an ecosystem of smarter materials, better education, and informed decisions. The Challenge: The construction industry often searches for a single "silver bullet" material, while many project teams still lack a clear understanding of embodied carbon or how emerging concrete technologies should be evaluated. The Solution: Kerry explains that success comes from educating everyone involved — from architects and engineers to code officials, professors, students, contractors and owners — so innovative materials can be adopted confidently and responsibly. ROI: Better education leads to better specifications, faster market adoption, lower embodied carbon, and more informed investment decisions while reducing project risk. 🧠 Key Insight #2: Collaboration — not competition — is accelerating concrete's path toward carbon neutrality. The Challenge: For years, organizations pursued sustainability goals independently, often duplicating efforts or working toward competing priorities that slowed industry-wide progress. The Solution: NEU creates a platform where manufacturers, researchers, engineers, policymakers and sustainability leaders openly share knowledge, performance data, and practical lessons that move the entire industry forward. ROI: Faster innovation, stronger standards, greater trust in new technologies, and broader adoption of lower-carbon construction solutions across the built environment. 🧠 Key Insight #3: The future of sustainable concrete depends on balancing lower embodied carbon with long-term resilience. The Challenge: Reducing carbon alone isn't enough if buildings, bridges, and infrastructure don't last. Sustainability without durability simply shifts environmental impacts into the future through repairs and replacement. The Solution: Kerry emphasizes designing structures that simultaneously reduce embodied carbon while maximizing durability, resilience, and lifecycle performance. She also highlights exciting innovations like recycled concrete technologies that recover and reuse valuable cementitious materials. ROI: Longer-lasting infrastructure reduces lifecycle costs, minimizes future emissions, conserves natural resources, and creates a truly sustainable built environment. 💬 Sustainable Soundbites "Don't put yourself in a box. Be open and ready for different opportunities." — Kerry Sutton ✍️ Your Green Building Action Plan This Week: Learn the difference between operational carbon and embodied carbon—and review the Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) for one material specified on your current project. This Quarter: Bring architects, engineers, contractors, suppliers, and owners together to discuss lower-carbon material options before design decisions become locked in. This Year: Develop an organization-wide strategy that balances carbon reduction with resilience by incorporating lifecycle thinking into material selection and project planning. 🔗 Connect & Learn More 🌿 Access full episode resources: https://www.gbes.com/podcast 📄 Read the transcript here 👩🏻‍💻 Connect with Kerry Sutton: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kerry-sutton-pe-leed-ap-b3485519/overlay/contact-info/ Website: https://www.miconcrete.org/home-michigan-concrete-association http://www.pavements4life.com/ 💚 Join the Green Building Movement: https://www.greenbuilding.news/subscribe ☘️ Want More Green Building Insights? Get sustainability tips delivered twice each week. 👉 Subscribe FREE: https://www.greenbuilding.news/subscribe 🧠 Today's Episode Sponsored By: Building Plaques Building Plaques creates custom LEED recognition plaques that tell the story of your project's sustainability achievement, made from architectural-grade anodized aluminum so they last as long as the building itself. Their online plaque designer lets you build a fully customized plaque in under 10 minutes — just enter your LEED project number and you're off. 🔍 Learn more: https://buildingplaques.com Green Building Matters, Inc © 2026 | Good Green Fun.

July 29, 2026Episode 44345 min

Beyond Buildings: Scaling Climate Action Across the Built Environment with Vincent Martinez

💚 The Green Impact Report Quick take: The next chapter of sustainability isn't about making individual buildings slightly better — it's about redesigning entire communities. Vincent Martinez explains why the future of decarbonization depends on collaboration, adaptive reuse, electrification, and thinking beyond the building itself. 🫶 Meet Your Fellow Sustainability Champion Vincent Martinez is the President & CEO of Architecture 2030, where he has spent nearly two decades helping shape the global movement toward a carbon-neutral built environment. From launching collaborative industry initiatives to advancing embodied carbon standards and policy frameworks, Vincent works at the intersection of architecture, engineering, planning, and climate leadership to accelerate meaningful change across the built environment. 🌱 Breaking Ground on Better Building 🚀 Key Insight #1: The future of sustainability goes beyond buildings — it includes cities, infrastructure, landscapes, and entire communities. The Challenge: Traditional sustainability efforts often focus on individual buildings, limiting opportunities for larger-scale climate impact. The Solution: Expand design thinking to include urban planning, infrastructure, landscape architecture, electrification, renewable energy, and nature-based solutions that work together as an integrated system. ROI: Systems-level thinking delivers greater carbon reductions while improving resilience, public health, water quality, biodiversity, and long-term community value. 🚀 Key Insight #2: Building reuse may be one of the most powerful climate strategies available today. The Challenge: The global building stock is being renovated at roughly 1% annually — far below the pace required to achieve climate goals. The Solution: Increase adaptive reuse by targeting key "building intervention points" such as property sales, lease renewals, equipment replacement, and major renovations with supportive financing and policy. ROI: Reusing buildings dramatically reduces embodied carbon while modernizing assets, improving operational efficiency, and extending the life of existing infrastructure. 🚀 Key Insight #3: Collaboration — not competition — is how the industry reaches its climate goals. The Challenge: Sustainability organizations, standards, and initiatives often develop independently, creating duplication and confusion across the marketplace. The Solution: Bring stakeholders together through shared frameworks, aligned methodologies, and collaborative initiatives like the ECHO Project that harmonize embodied carbon reporting. ROI: Industry-wide collaboration accelerates adoption, creates consistent standards, reduces duplicated effort, and enables faster progress toward decarbonization targets. 🎧 Sustainable Soundbites My superpower is bringing people together with generosity, transparency, and a collaborative spirit." — Vincent Martinez ✅ Your Green Building Action Plan Transform your next project with these steps: 1. This Week: Evaluate your projects through multiple decarbonization lenses—not just energy efficiency, but electrification, renewable energy, embodied carbon, and resilience. 2. This Quarter: Identify opportunities for adaptive reuse or renovation before considering new construction, and look for natural building intervention points where upgrades make financial and operational sense. 3. This Year: Build stronger partnerships across disciplines and organizations to create integrated climate solutions that extend beyond individual buildings into neighborhoods and communities. 🔗 Connect & Learn More 🌿 Access full episode resources: https://www.gbes.com/podcast 👩🏻‍💻 Connect with Vincent Martinez: Website: https://www.architecture2030.org/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vincentmichaelmartinez/ 💚 Join the Green Building Movement: https://www.greenbuilding.news/subscribe 🙏🏼 Want More Green Building Insights? Get sustainability tips 2x a week. Subscribe to our FREE newsletter here: https://www.greenbuilding.news/subscribe 🧠 Today's Episode Sponsored By: Building Plaques Building Plaques creates custom LEED recognition plaques that tell the story of your project's sustainability achievement, made from architectural-grade anodized aluminum so they last as long as the building itself. Their online plaque designer lets you build a fully customized plaque in under 10 minutes — just enter your LEED project number and you're off. 🔍 Learn more: https://buildingplaques.com Green Building Matters, Inc © 2026 | Good Green Fun.

July 22, 2026Episode 44230 min

Sustainability Is Woven In, Not Handed Out: Making Green Building the Default with Dave Hubka

✅ The Green Impact Report Quick take: Dave Hubka has spent 20+ years turning "up to code" into "why would we settle for that?" — and his approach of building sustainability directly into the spec (instead of waiting for a client to ask) is a playbook every green building professional can steal. 🤝 Meet Your Fellow Sustainability Champion Dave Hubka is the Sustainability Practice Leader at EUA, where he lights the way for the firm's team to create healthier buildings for clients and the environment. His work starts with listening — collaborating closely with clients to uncover their specific sustainability goals and finding the best strategies to get there. Dave spent the first decade of his career as a mechanical engineer while earning accreditations in sustainable building methods, and he's been teaching ever since — lecturing around the country on designing, constructing, and operating better buildings. He's a LEED Fellow and WELL AP, and he still loves helping teams strategize the big-picture sustainability initiatives that move the industry forward. Dave sees a bright future ahead: one where most of the buildings EUA designs create more energy than they consume and actively remove carbon from the atmosphere. Outside of work, Dave keeps his mind and body in motion — spin classes, Bikram yoga, family game nights, and walks with his two dachshunds. 🌱 Breaking Ground on Better Building In this episode, Dave Hubka revolutionizes traditional construction approaches: 🫶 Key Insight #1: Sustainability shouldn't be a task you hand out — it should already be baked into the spec. The Challenge: Sustainability is often treated as an add-on that gets bolted onto a project only when a client specifically asks for it — and when it's handed to a team as an extra task, people who don't know how to execute it quietly step away from it. The Solution: Dave works directly with his firm's spec team so glass, envelope, and MEP efficiencies are set up for success by default — clients get good design and sustainability without ever having to ask for it. ROI: Every project starts from a higher baseline, LEED and WELL work becomes an easier lift on top of already-sustainable design, and teams don't disengage from work they were simply told to do. 🤩 Key Insight #2: Codes are catching up — and MEP commissioning is becoming the new normal. The Challenge: Commissioning has long been "just a LEED prerequisite," treated as optional unless a project is specifically pursuing certification. The Solution: Wisconsin's new energy code now requires MEP commissioning, so Dave's firm is building out an in-house commissioning team to verify designs perform correctly across every mode of operation. ROI: Commissioned systems actually work as designed, energy models hold up in reality, and firms that build this capability now are ahead of where regulation is clearly heading. ✍️ Key Insight #3: The next sustainability frontier is the carbon footprint of water — and turning EPD/HPD transparency into real optimization. The Challenge: The industry has spent the last decade getting comfortable with EPDs and HPDs, but transparency alone doesn't reduce impact — and almost no one is tracking the carbon cost of getting water into (and dirty water out of) a building. The Solution: Dave expects the next 5–15 years to bring real accounting for water-related carbon emissions, plus a shift from manufacturers simply disclosing product data (EPDs/HPDs) to actively optimizing based on it. ROI: Teams that start tracking these metrics now will be ahead of the curve as grids decarbonize (a projected 95% by scenario in 25 years) and as owners start demanding optimization, not just disclosure. 🎧 Sustainable Soundbite "It's not that we inherit the planet from our parents — we're actually borrowing it from our children." — Dave Hubka 🧗‍♂️ Your Green Building Action Plan Transform your next project with these steps: This Week: Sit down with your spec team and identify one system (glass, envelope, MEP) where sustainability can be the default, not a client request. This Quarter: Start tracking EPD/HPD data for your key material categories — the goal is optimization, not just disclosure. This Year: Build or partner for in-house MEP commissioning capability before your state's energy code requires it. ✍️ Connect & Learn More 🌿 Access full episode resources: https://www.gbes.com/podcast 🗒 Read the transcript here 🔗 Connect with Dave Hubka: Website: https://eua.com/ 📖 Book mentioned in this episode — The Laws of Human Nature by Robert Greene 💚 Join the Green Building Movement: https://www.greenbuilding.news/subscribe 🙏🏼 Want More Green Building Insights? Get sustainability tips 2x a week. Subscribe to our FREE newsletter here: https://www.greenbuilding.news/subscribe 🧠 Today's Episode Sponsored By: Building Plaques Building Plaques creates custom LEED recognition plaques that tell the story of your project's sustainability achievement, made from architectural-grade anodized aluminum so they last as long as the building itself. Their online plaque designer lets you build a fully customized plaque in under 10 minutes — just enter your LEED project number and you're off. 🔍 Learn more: https://buildingplaques.com Green Building Matters, Inc © 2026 | Good Green Fun.

July 15, 2026Episode 44137 min

Ken Rhee on Turning BIM Data Into a Living, Breathing Digital Twin

🎯 The Green Impact Report Quick take: Only 3% of people on a building project can actually open a BIM file — Ken Rhee is fixing that, and using AI and sensors to turn "as-built" data into real-time building intelligence that pays off in energy, insurance, and asset value. 🤩 Meet Your Fellow Sustainability Champion Ken Rhee Joined VIM Build in Atlanta, GA as President at the beginning of January, 2026. Co-founded Integral VIM, a BIM consulting company based in Shanghai in 2021, together with Arol Wolford ; currently developing VXBOS, a VIM-based 3D building operating software. Based in Shanghai, worked at Morgan Stanley as VP and later Executive Director in its real estate banking and investment departments (2006-2012). Conducted M&A advisory work at JP Morgan in Hong Kong and Singapore (1998-2003) Between 2012 and 2024, served as Founding Executive Director for Urban Land. Institute (ULI) China Mainland and has authored or edited a number of ULI publications, and has led a series of ULI Advisory Services Panels in China and South Korea. Holds an MBA from University of Chicago Booth School of Business (1998) and a BA in Econ/Business at UCLA. Born and raised in Korea until the age of 14 and immigrated to the US and settled in southern California 🌱 Breaking Ground on Better Building In this episode, Ken Rhee revolutionizes how project teams actually use their building data: 💚 Key Insight #1: Democratizing BIM Access The Challenge: BIM models are so large and fragmented — sometimes 100+ Revit files for one complex building — that even developers rarely get to see them. Historically, only a small fraction of people on a project can actually open a BIM file. The Solution: VIM Build federates Revit, IFC, and Navisworks files into a lightweight format anyone can open on a laptop, no Revit or VIM subscription required, with clickable materials that surface real bill-of-materials data. ROI: Entire project teams — architects, contractors, developers, even facility managers down the road — can finally see and use the same building data instead of relying on static exports. 💚 Key Insight #2: AI-Powered Predictive Maintenance The Challenge: Building teams typically know what is installed (like 20 different light bulb SKUs across a tower) but not how to plan around it — replacement schedules are guesswork, and maintenance crews waste time locating parts. The Solution: Layering AI on top of federated BIM data lets teams isolate any component by SKU, locate it instantly, and use AI to estimate useful life and auto-build replacement schedules. ROI: Lower operating expenses, less reactive maintenance, and faster turnaround for maintenance staff who now know exactly where to go. 💚 Key Insight #3: Real-Time Digital Twins That Talk to the Building The Challenge: There's a disconnect between the operational data buildings generate and how that data actually informs asset management, financing, and insurance decisions. The Solution: Integral BIM's sensor networks (temperature, humidity, CO2, PM2.5, TVOC, occupancy) tie directly into AC and lighting controls — even letting tenants pre-heat or cool their space from a smartphone before arriving — all layered onto the BIM-based digital twin. ROI: Reduced energy use, better facility management, and — because insurers and lenders can assess risk more accurately — improved financing terms and lower insurance premiums. 💬 Sustainable Soundbite "Only 3% of people working on development projects where BIM is used can actually access the BIM models." — Ken Rhee ✅ Your Green Building Action Plan Transform your next project with these steps: This Week: Audit who on your project team can actually open your BIM files. If it's limited to a couple of specialists, you have a data-access problem worth solving. This Quarter: Pilot a federated, lightweight BIM viewer so developers, facility managers, and other stakeholders can explore building data without a Revit license. This Year: Build the business case for a real-time digital twin — start with a handful of sensor types tied to your building controls, and track the impact on financing conversations and insurance premiums. 🔗 Connect & Learn More 🌿 Access full episode resources: https://www.gbes.com/podcast 🗒️ Read the transcript here 👩🏻‍💻 Connect with Ken Rhee: Website: https://vimaec.com/, LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ken-rhee-295a4018**/** 💚 Join the Green Building Movement: https://www.greenbuilding.news/subscribe Want More Green Building Insights? Get sustainability tips 2x a week. Subscribe to our FREE newsletter here: https://www.greenbuilding.news/subscribe 🤝 Today's Episode Sponsored By: **BuildingPlaques.com** helps project teams showcase the story behind their LEED and green building certifications with fully customized architectural plaques. Highlight your scorecard, sustainability strategy, project team, and certifications in one sleek display designed to educate and inspire building occupants. 🔍 Learn more: https://buildingplaques.com Green Building Matters, Inc © 2026 | Good Green Fun.

July 8, 2026Episode 44037 min

Leading with Influence: FAIA, LEED Fellow Kirk Teske on Sustainability, Design Leadership, and Protecting What Matters

🎯 The Green Impact Report Quick take: After 42 years at HKS, Kirk Teske reflects on a career that helped shape sustainable design at scale. From leading one of the earliest LEED pilot projects to influencing generations of architects, Kirk shares why responsible design, stakeholder engagement, and courageous leadership remain the foundation of a better built environment. 🎓 Meet Your Fellow Sustainability Champion Kirk Teske is a retired architect, LEED Fellow, and former Global Director at HKS, where he spent more than four decades helping transform one of the world's leading design firms. During his career, he led corporate headquarters projects, hospitality developments, sustainability initiatives, and international practice growth while serving as a champion for responsible design and environmental stewardship. A longtime advocate for sustainable architecture, Kirk helped advance early LEED adoption, supported the Architecture 2030 Challenge, and played a key role in integrating sustainability into firm-wide practice standards. Today, he continues his environmental leadership through community advocacy focused on protecting natural landscapes and responsible development. 🌱 Breaking Ground on Better Building In this episode, Kirk Teske shares lessons from a remarkable career in architecture while offering guidance for the next generation of sustainability leaders. 🧠 Key Insight #1: Sustainable design succeeds when it becomes part of every design conversation. The Challenge: Sustainability has often been treated as a specialty service or a collection of certifications rather than a core design responsibility. The Solution: Integrate energy efficiency, healthy buildings, resilience, low-carbon thinking, and responsible material selection into every project from the beginning. ROI: Better-performing buildings, stronger client outcomes, reduced environmental impact, and long-term business value. 🧠 Key Insight #2: The best building solutions come from diverse perspectives. The Challenge: Traditional design processes can overlook valuable insights from stakeholders, researchers, users, and adjacent disciplines. The Solution: Engage multiple voices throughout the design process, including researchers, anthropologists, clients, operators, and building occupants. ROI: More innovative solutions, improved project performance, stronger stakeholder alignment, and buildings that better serve their communities. 🧠 Key Insight #3: Influence creates a greater legacy than any individual project. The Challenge: Many professionals focus solely on project outcomes without recognizing the long-term impact they can have on people and organizational culture. The Solution: Mentor others, advocate for better ideas, create opportunities for emerging professionals, and lead through influence rather than authority. ROI: Stronger teams, accelerated industry progress, greater organizational impact, and a legacy that extends far beyond completed buildings. 🎙️ Sustainable Soundbite "Your voice, even as a young person on a design team, is important." — Kirk Teske 🤗 Your Green Building Action Plan Transform your next project with these steps: This Week: Identify one opportunity to bring additional stakeholder perspectives into an active project or design discussion. This Quarter: Review project standards and specifications to ensure sustainability goals are embedded from the earliest stages of design. This Year: Mentor an emerging professional and help them identify a project that could become a career-defining opportunity. 🔗 Connect & Learn More **🌿 Access full episode resources: https://www.gbes.com/podcast** 📜 Read the transcript 👉 here 👩🏻‍💻 Connect with Kirk Teske : Website: hksinc.com LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/kirkteske 💚 Join the Green Building Movement: https://www.gbes.com 🤩 Want More Green Building Insights? Get sustainability tips 2x a week. Subscribe to our FREE newsletter here: https://www.greenbuilding.news/subscribe 🤝 Today's Episode Sponsored By: BuildingPlaques.com BuildingPlaques.com helps project teams showcase the story behind their LEED and green building certifications with fully customized architectural plaques. Highlight your scorecard, sustainability strategy, project team, and certifications in one sleek display designed to educate and inspire building occupants. 🔍 Learn more: https://buildingplaques.com Green Building Matters, Inc © 2026 | Good Green Fun.